Photoshop Clone Stamp Tool

[peter_leibowitz]

Hopefully someone can tell me what I am doing wrong. I was using the clone

stamp tool is CS3 and all of a sudden it stopped working when I try to use it.

I don't know if I inadvertantly clicked on something in Photoshop. I opened

several other images and the result is the same, I cannot get the clone stamp

to work.

[bruce_margolis]

Peter, did you make it so small that you just can't see it? Sometimes I find this happens when I zoom into/out of an image. You can enlarge the coverage area of the tool with the toolbar at the top.

 

Try opening a fresh image and see if this works.

[tony_wellington]

Hi Peter. Some time back I had trouble with both the clone stamp. It was only functioning at

minimal opacity, no matter what I did. Same thing with the Spot Healing Brush. On a thread I

discovered others had suffered the same issue. Resetting the Preferences a number of times

fixed the problem. This was confirmed by others. For some folks discarding and resetting

Preferences just once worked, whereas for others, like me, it took a few goes. So try that if

nothing else works.

[RobertChura]

Try the caps lock key?

[r_johnston]

If you have more than one layer, neither the clone stamp or healing brush will work. Flatten or merge them and it will.

[michael_darnton1]

No, they'll work, but only on an image layer, not on an adjustment layer.

[peter_leibowitz]

I just have the original layer. I've tried all the suggestions above and nothing seems to work.

[bruce_margolis]

Peter, another possibility.....

 

Have you tried shutting down the program and re-booting? Just wondering if this is a memory error thing. And do all the other tools still work?

[randmcnatt]

Do you have a Wacom? It can disable the keyboard+mouse.

 

Try clearing cache - I mean "Edit->Purge".

 

Make sure you have enough swap space on your scratch disk; you may need to empty the Trashcan OR Recycle Bin.

 

Have you accidentally selected a single pixel or something, maybe with Ctrl-H[ide] on? You said several images, so probably not, but ya never know...

 

All these have bit me at one time or other.

[peter_leibowitz]

I did reboot and walk away from the program for the evening but it appears that the other tools aren't working either. Should I uninstall and then reinstall Photoshop?

[bruce_margolis]

Peter, I have never had the all tools lock up like you say, except in a temporary way. However, corrupted files are always possible. If you are running Windows, I would try disk cleanup/defrag first. If all else fails, back up everything you have and try an uninstall/reinstall.

[jerryrock]

The first step to troubleshooting Photoshop is to reset preferences:

 

Hold down Alt, Ctrl, and Shift keys (Mac: Command, Option, Shift) while starting Photoshop. A

dialog box will appear asking if you wish to delete the preferences file.